Criminal charges in Canada and your immigration status (Fact sheet)

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If you are charged with a crime in Canada, you have a right to a trial in criminal court. At the trial, a lawyer for the government will try to prove that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If they cannot prove this, then the court will find you not guilty.

Be sure you know what kind of immigration status you have here. If you are not a Canadian citizen, what the court decides may affect your status. It may lead immigration authorities to take steps to get a "removal order" against you. This is an order to remove you from Canada to another country.

Here are just a few examples of crimes that could affect your immigration status — driving while you are drunk, stealing even if you steal something of little value, assaulting your family or other people, having illegal drugs.